Quarterly real GDP growth slowed to 0.4% in the fourth quarter of 2015 from 0.5% in the third, according to the flash estimate from the Statistical service Cystat.

Bank of Cyprus has again been awarded Best Private Banking in Cyprus by the internationally renowned journal Euromoney, according to a press release issue by BoC.

General Government budget balance registered a deficit of €82,5 million (0.5% of GDP) in 2015, compared to a deficit of €43m (0.2% of GDP) in 2014, an announcement from the Public Debt Management Office said.

The House recently passed two of six bills regulating the failure of banks and investment firms.

The success story of Cyprus is a success for the island, its government and the people, a spokesman of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) told the press recently.

The energy sector is a priority for Cyprus, Minister of Transport Marios Demetriades has said.

Cyprus is about to exit its economic adjustment programme and is standing again on its own feet, having regained its credibility as a country and as an economy, Finance Minister Harris Georgiades has said.

An efficient exchange of information on criminal convictions referred to as the European Criminal Records Information System has been introduced between Member States in order to help improve the security of citizens within the European Area of Freedom, Security and Justice. The national courts when passing sentences refer to the past convictions in their national register and fail to have any knowledge of possible convictions of the particular defendant in other Member States. This particularly benefited the defendants as they could easily escape their past convictions by moving between EU Member States. As a result in 2009 Members of the European Union took a decision to introduce a system of exchanging information on criminal records with one another.

Bank of Greece Chief Yannis Stournaras said recently that Cyprus is the closest example of social and political consensus and one Greece must follow.

The government has tried to convince energy giant Total to relocate their logistics base from Larnaca port to Limassol, after Larnaca’s municipal council voted against granting a six-month extension to the base’s operation.